‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ poster has a ‘Dark Knight Rises’ vibe

The slow unveiling of next summer’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” has begun in earnest, first with the official plot synopsis released last week and now with the first poster, which seems to be taking a few tips from “The Dark Knight Rises.”

This year’s conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy began its marketing push with a poster showing the Batman symbol formed from a crumbling urban cityscape, and now J.J. Abrams’ “Trek” sequel appears to be in keeping with that approach.

The first poster for “The Dark Knight Rises.” (Warner Bros.)

Forget about seeing the USS Enterprise, Kirk, Spock or any of the beloved crew. This first poster promises death and destruction in the form of the film’s villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, seen from behind wearing a long trench coat.

Who is he? While no one has confirmed anything officially, the initial guess was that he would be playing Khan Noonien Singh, the villain most people know from “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” However, more recent speculation has centered around Cumberbatch being Gary Mitchell, a powerful villain with psionic powers played by Gary Lockwood in the original series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

In the episode, which was the second pilot filmed for the series and the first to feature William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, Mitchell plays a Starfleet lieutenant commander who gains godlike powers and becomes a threat to those around him.

The official synopsis for “Into Darkness” says, “Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.”

More will be revealed in the coming weeks as nine minutes of the film will play before Imax 3D screenings of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” when it opens on Dec. 14. Non-Imax screenings of “The Hobbit” will get the official “Into Darkness” trailer.

The film, which was written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, also stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, John Cho and Simon Pegg. It is scheduled to open May 17.